Next up in State of the Flyers is Danny Briere. Its kinda weird, when he first came to Philly, he was the toast of the town, no one cared about his contract, he was the man! Its amazing what groin problems will do to public perception.
Ill admit, Briere was one of my favorite non-Flyers back in the day. The only bright light from the horrible 06/07 season was that we were gonna have a ton of cap money, and Mr Briere was going to be available. On July 1, 2007, my wish came true, Danny was a Flyer; 8 years, $52 million. When many fans here those contract numbers now, they cringe, but lets hop in the way back machine and review the state of the Flyers when we signed him: we had just come off the worst season in franchise history, we were in desperate need of a top line center, we had a ton of cap money available, and 21 year old's Mike Richards and Jeff Carter werent anywhere close to the players that they are now. It would have been totally foolish for Homer to see all that and still not sign Briere, we all would have torched him at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, but I still say signing him was the right move.
Briere started his first season in orange and black on fire, Ill never forget him scoring the game winner with a couple minutes to go in the season opener against Calgary, then scoring a sick breakaway goal against the Oilers a couple nights later. Danny had a great chemisty with Simon Gagne, then when Gags went down for the season with another concussion, Briere struggled while coach Stevens was trying to find him a new linemate, along came Vinny "worlds biggest visor" Prospal. Briere was reborn and finished the year with 31 goals and 41 assists. In the playoffs he was arguably the teams best player against Washington.
Then came last season, Briere only played 29 games due to a nagging groin injury. When it was time for him to come back, Homer had to waive Metro and Ossi Vannanen as well as trade fan favorite Scottie Upshall to the Phoenix (Hamilton? Kansas City?) Coyotes for Dan "waste of a roster spot" Carcillo just to fit Briere under the salary cap. It was largely due to this, that fans started to turn on Briere. Look, I was frustrated as well that he struggled with injury last season, but come on, its not like he missed half the season with a paper cut, he had a groin injury, which the last time I checked, is very common among hockey players. Would fans have acted the same way if it was Mike Richards or Jeff Carter who were in that situation last season?
Dont hate Briere because of his contract, yeah it doesnt help the salary cap situation, but be honest, if someone offered you a $52 million dollar job, you'd take it as well, if you're going to be mad at anyone about his contract, be mad at Homer. Also if I hear one more person say that we should trade Briere to get his salary out of here, let me remind you....has a no trade clause!!! He isnt ever going to waive it, he has mentioned numerous times how he and his family like living in this area, so they arent going to pack up and leave just because alot of people want them to.
Lastly, I think Briere is going to win comeback player of the year (do they have that award in hockey?) He has been training hard all summer and has mentioned in numerous articles how last years struggles have affected him. With him (hopefully) healthy for the full season, it will almost be like adding a new free agent to the team. Prediction 34 goals (yeah I said it!!!)
Next up: Ian Laperrière & Claude Giroux
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